Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said Monday that he will aim for some kind of trade agreement with the United States by Aug 1, a deadline set by President Donald Trump to wrap up bilateral talks.
“I don’t have (such a concern),” Akazawa told reporters at an international airport near Washington upon his arrival, when asked whether the failure of Japan’s ruling coalition to retain majority control in Sunday’s upper house election would make the stalled bilateral negotiations even more difficult.
“I believe that both Japan and the United States have a desire to reach some kind of agreement by then,” Akazawa said, referring to the deadline when a pause on Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs is due to expire.
However, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has played a pivotal role in tariff negotiations, said in a CNBC interview that the Trump administration is “more concerned with high quality deals.”
https://japantoday.com/category/politics/update2-despite-election-loss-japan-says-seeking-u.s.-trade-deal-by-aug.-1
